Pig-carrier for blast-furnaces



(No Model.) 7 3 Sheets-Sheet 1;

F. W. GORDON. PIG CARRIER FOR BLAST FURNACES.

N@.2'91.,507.' Patentd Jan.8,1 884.

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Witnesses: Inventor i w I orney a, minus. Phnlouliwmpher, Washinglnn. a. c.

(No Model.) 8 a Sheets-Sheet 2.

P. W. GORDON.

PIG CARRIER PORBL'AST FURNACES. No. 291,507.

Patented Jan. 8,1884.

Witnesses Inventor \ZZOQM WM (,2

Attdrney n5, Pnulo-ulna n lwn Waminpm MI.

(No ModeL) 3Sheets-Sheet 3.

F. w. GORDON.

' PIG CARRIER FOR BLAST FURNACES No. 291,507. r v Patented Jan. 8 -1884.

Attorney UNITED STATES PATENT @rrrcn.

FRED. GORDON, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

PIG-CARRIER FOR BLAST-FURNACES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 291,507, dated January 8, 1884.

Application filed October 29, 1883. (N0 model.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED. WV. GORDON, of Pittsburg, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Pig-Carriers for Blast-Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to devices for permittingthe ready removal from the cast-house of a blast-furnace of the newly-formed pigiron, and for the loading of the same up 011 boat or car.

In the general arrangement of blast-furnaces the furnace is located at one end of the casthouse. The cast-house floor forms the bed in i which the pig-iron is cast, and is almost entirely occupied by the pig-molds and the sows which feed them. After the cooling of the newly-cast metal, it is broken up into separate pigs and removed from the oast-houseby hand, after which thefioor is again worked up into molds ready for a new cast. Each cast from the furnace calls for a repetition of these 1aborious processes. The running of cars directly through the center of the cast-house has served in a measure to reduce the amount of labor required in disposing of the metal; but there still remained a considerable distance to carry the pigs of iron, and the railway'track interfered, to some extent, with the convenient arrangement of the runners for the metal, it being at all times desirable to have the entire floor of the cast-house unimpeded by tracks, 85c.

The present invention relates to novel arrangement of overhead carriers, as hereinafter more fully described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of a cast-house, Fig. 2 a vertical longitudinal section of the same, Fig. 3 a vertical transverse section of the same, and Fig. 4 a perspective view of a pig-cradle, all serving to illustrate my invention.

In the drawings, A represents the fioor of the casthouse; B, the blast-furnace situated in one end of the east-house; O, the side walls D, the end walls farthest from the blast-furnaee; E, doorways in the end wall; F, a railroad-track located below the level'of the casthouse floor; G, a flat car on the track in po sition to be loaded with iron from the casthouse; H, single overhead track-rails, located about midway between the side walls of the cast-house and the transverse center of the cast-house; I, suspenders from the top of the cast-house, suspending the track-rails; J angular braces from the cast-house wall ,to the track-rails; K, prolongations of thetraek-rails outward from the cast-house through the openings in the end wall and over the railwaytraclr; L, the roof of the cast-house; M, the

pig-cradle for receiving the pig-iron; N, a

sheave running upon the overhead track-rails and supporting the pig-cradle; O, the suspending-rod from the sheave to the pig-cradle, and l? a-swivel-joint where the pig-cradle is united to its suspension-rod.

, The suspenders I have their upper ends attached to the roof-rafters at the top of the side walls, and these suspenders, thus arranged in connection with the braces J, serve to bring the vertical strains directly upon these walls, I

while at the same time the roof-rafters serve as a ready means for attaching the upper ends of the suspenders, and at the same time relieve the walls of inward strain. The cast-house floor slopes from the blastfurnaoe toward the end wall, and the railroad-track F is located at such depth below thelevel of the cast-house floor that the deck of a fiat-ear will be upon a level not higher than the lower end of the easthouse floor.

The track-rails H are parallel, or practically parallel,with the cast-house floor, and therefore have a similar slope, and theyare located at such height as not to obstruct the passage of workmen. In case the railroad-track cannot be brought conveniently across the end of the cast-house floor, as shown, it may run wherever convenient, so long as the proper level is secured and the prolongationK of the track-rails is continued to and over the railroad. Should the furnace be located upon navigable water, the relative arrangement of levels as to cast-house floor and deck of vessel and prolongation of track-rail will be the same as with the railroad arrangement set forth. 7

There is to be a pig-cradle upon each of the track-rails, and both may be used at once. The tracks as located bring the path of the pigcradles about over the center of the real pigmold portion of the cast-house floor, and thus permits the loading of the pig metal onto the or the boat may-be, and there its load discharged, after which it is brought up the incline track empty. The pigcradle being swiveled to its suspension-rod permits the cradle being turned into the best position for receiving the pig metal as it is picked from .its parallel molds in the cast-house floor. The

cradle, connecting at its upper end with the suspension-rod 0 by means of the swivel P; R, a cross-rod at the foot of the bail; S, a pair of united arms pivoted to the rod R at the foot of the bail, and provided with turned-up ends to retain the pig-iron placed upon them; T, a convergent lever-like juncture for the arms S, carried upward, so as to form, with the arms, a bell-crank; U, the apex of the vertical portion T; V, a cross-rod in the bail in the neighborhood of the top of the portion U of the arm structure; W, a double-ended latch piece or hook upon the rod V, arranged to rotate so as to engage and disengage from the upper portion of the arm structure, as will be clearly understood from the drawings; and X Y Z, a similar bell-crank supporting arm structure arranged upon the other side of the bail.

With the parts of the pig-cradle in position as shown in Fig. 4, either or both sides of the cradle may be loaded with pig metal by laborers, who will not interfere with each other, as they work upon opposite sides. After the cradle is run over the car or the boat, the latch-piece IV is turned, and both sides si1nultaneonsly discharge their loads in an obvious manner, after which the arms are hooked up 40 again in the position shown in the drawings.

I claim as my invention 1. In a pig-carrier for blast-furnaces, the combination of a roof and side wall of a casthouse, an overhead track-rail, braces from 5 said rail to the side wall, suspenders from said rail to the roof at a point at or near the top of the side wall, and a pig-cradle arranged to travel upon said track-rail, substantially as I set forth. 5o

2. In pig-carriers for blast-furnaces, the combination of a sloping cast-house floor, a railroad located below the level of the cast house floor, as set forth, an overhead trackrail in the cast-house, having a prolongation from the cast-house over said railroad, and a pig-cradle fitted to travel upon said track-rail, substantially as set forth.

3. In pig-carriers for blast-furnaces, the combination of a cast-house, a blast-furnace located at one end of the same, two independent overhead track-rails located between the side walls of the cast-house and the transverse center of the casthouse, and pig-cradles arranged to travel upon said track-rails, sub-. stantially as set forth.

4. The il'nproved pig-cradle consisting of the suspended bail, the two bell-crank arm structures pivoted therein, and the doubleended latch-piece fitted to engage the upper portion of the arm-pieces, substantially as set forth.

FRED. IV. GORDON.

W'itnesses:

THOMAS DEEGAN, F. E. FIcKEs. 

